How to Store Sunchokes
Sunchokes have thin, delicate skins and do not store as long as potatoes once they are out of the ground, so plan to use dug tubers within a couple of weeks. The best long term storage is often the garden itself, leaving the tubers in cool soil until you need them.
Best storage conditions
Store harvested sunchokes cold and damp, ideally right around 32 to 36 degrees F with very high humidity of about 90 to 95 percent. Warm, dry air makes them shrivel and go soft quickly.
How long it keeps
In the refrigerator, sunchokes usually keep about 1 to 2 weeks before softening. Held in damp sand in a root cellar or left in the ground under mulch, they can last for weeks to a couple of months over winter.
Storage methods
Keep sunchokes in a perforated or loosely closed plastic bag in the refrigerator crisper to hold in moisture. For larger amounts, pack them in boxes of damp sand or peat in a root cellar, or simply leave them undug in the garden beneath a heavy layer of straw or leaves and lift them as needed.
Freezing & preserving
Sunchokes can be frozen after blanching or, better, cooked and pureed for soups before freezing, since raw pieces turn soft when thawed. They are commonly pickled, which adds the acidity needed for a boiling water bath, so follow only tested USDA or NCHFP recipes for any canning. Plain sunchokes are a low acid vegetable and would require pressure canning, so use a tested pressure canning recipe rather than improvising. They can also be sliced thin and dried into chips.
Tips
Do not wash sunchokes until you are ready to use them, since surface moisture speeds up spoilage. Handle them gently to avoid bruising the thin skin, and sort out any soft or damaged tubers before storing the rest.
General home-storage guidance. For home canning and preserving safety, follow USDA and National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) guidelines. Page updated Aug 4, 2026.